This Wednesday night from 7-9pm we will hold an opening reception for our shaker inspired exhibition That Is Best Which Works Best. We are pleased to be participating yet again in Toronto Design Offsite. If you are in Toronto, there are a lot of wonderful events happening around the city this week, and we highly recommend you go check some of it out. On Wednesday night specifically, our Junction neighbourhood will be hosting quite a few parties, which you can easily hop about to.

After visiting Hancock Shaker Village last September, John managed to acquire quite a haul of Shaker items via auction. These will be on display along with some contemporary pieces inspired by the Shakers.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

Mjölk
2959 Dundas Street West
7-9pm

Please note that the shop will be open during the day on Wednesday, however we will be setting up, so it’s definitely a better day for mission shopping than browsing.

It’s becoming a yearly Christmas tradition for John to go on a Svenskt Tenn bender. With such a gorgeous and otherwise inaccessible collection it’s not hard to understand why. One spectacular piece he picked up is this giant candelabra. I cannot even find it on their website anymore so I assume it was a holiday thing. This is the only calm moment during an otherwise chaotic dinner.

 

Our visit with Santa this year, at the Junction train platform. What a nice tradition our BIA has going. It’s so lovely to just walk across the street, see Santa arrive on a local firetruck, wander the neighbourhood watching local dance school students perform the Christmas themed dances in shop windows, grab a hot chocolate and warm up inside doing a craft at ARTiculations.

We hope that everyone had a lovely holiday, and we wish you all the best for 2017!

Last week I picked up a new camera, the Canon PowerShot G7X, in the hopes of blogging more – the quality I’m used to, a compact size and wifi were what I was looking for. On Friday I took it out for a test drive and am really excited for the potential!

First stop was newish Junction spot Dirty Food. When Locomotive and Little Fish closed awhile back we were pretty sad about a lack of early morning breakfast spots so Dirty Food has opened at an opportune time. With an 8am start to the day, they are ideal for our early risers (meaning we are only on second breakfast by the time we head over).

Howell contemplating the Johnny Cakes.

John had the Chicken and Waffles. They also have a fantastic eggs benedict, and my favourite lunch item is homemade pierogies.

Next stop was the Evergreen Brickworks for a nature walk.

The fall colours are pretty much gone but the wintry light was still really pretty.

A boy and his stick. Thank goodness he’s obsessed with those rain boots.

 

What a beautiful day it was. I hope everyone in Toronto had a chance to get out for a little bit, especially now that the cold has arrived.

It’s a little bit tardy to be letting you know that the Junction Design Crawl is in a couple of days (Friday, August 23). This year we partnered up with local design studio MSDS. They are constructing a booth to be placed inside our shop, where we will be selling tasty treats until 11pm, or until it all runs out.

Be Guided by the Lights at the 3rd Annual Design Crawl.  Friday, 23 August.  7pm – 11pm:

Hosted by Your Favourite Shops. Start off your Friday night by going out for an evening stroll, where all of your favourite stores will be playing host for the evening. The Junction Design Crawl is organized by a group of independent business owners in the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto. Come to participating locations to see innovative design displays, participate in one-of-a-kind installations, savour exotic snacks, and hear great live music. All of the businesses participating in the Junction Design Crawl will have white lights strung up outside of their shops, making it easy to navigate the evening.
 

It’s summer and the Junction Flea has returned! I cannot even express how excited we are: Micah and Paul (visit their new shop Thank You on Queen W just East of Dovercourt) have done so much for the neighborhood with their events. On Junction Flea Sundays, the area gets so many visitors from other parts of the city, and our streets are filled with so much energy.

Summer is pretty quiet in the city, due to everyone enjoying cottages, farms, beaches, parks etc. As a result we get pretty glum in the shop, having fewer visitors and seeing the sunny days pass us by. So this year, since there is only really John and Frank working in the shop, we’ve decided to CLOSE most SUNDAYS, with the EXCEPTION of every second Sunday of the month in conjunction with the Flea. So many reasons to visit!!!

We will be open the following Sundays:
June 9th
July 14th
August 11th

This year there is a small cover charge, which we paid dutifully. It’s a lot of work pulling an event like this off, and every bit we can help to keep it running is fine by us! We arrived nice and early to beat the crowds (which really got going by 11:30). There’s also some Flea swag to help out with the running costs.

Manual Labour Coffee. Toddlers and rocks, toddlers and rocks.

We finally got a photo done by Tintype Studio! Basically it’s a quick snapshot, but while they prep the plate for three minutes, they place you and set the camera up. It was a long three minutes with Elodie wanting to explore but she sat like a champ for the actual photo, thank goodness. I am so impressed that they took the shot right when she looked at the camera (gosh she looks so much like dad, I’m the odd one out with my scary pale eyes). These guys are pros!
It’s $40.

Cutest booth award. Elodie loved the light reflection from this mirror.

ps. these are instagram photos that mostly never actually appeared on instagram.

On Sunday evening we went to Studio Junction‘s closing party for the participants in their Art in a Courtyard House exhibition, which they put on in conjunction with Doors Open.We were very honored to be able to participate in the show and debut a set of tea and baking carts designed by Mjolk and Studio Junction, and crafted by Studio Junction.

Here is our description:

Tea Cart and Baking Cart Concept

It wasn’t too long ago that the tea cart was a much needed extension to the family home. It was much more common 30 or more years ago that the dining room was a separate entity from the kitchen, and things like formal living rooms were used for high tea in the afternoon. In contemporary times things like dining rooms and formal living rooms have become redundant, and this is probably for the best. However there are some things that were lost in this transition that we feel could have easily found a place in the modern family home.

Tea carts are an extension of the kitchen, they are on wheels and can be used to easily shuffle everything from tea or alcohol, to desserts from the kitchen to table. When necessary the tea cart can take on an important presence, and at the same time be quietly tucked against the wall when not in use. We made the top tray of the tea cart removable to be used like a tray when serving tea. This solves the awkwardness of moving many teacups and desserts at one time, but also provides a thoughtful presentation.

Several reoccurring themes that Studio Junction has been exploring are the court yard as an architectural element, and thinking of the kitchen in terms of a piece of furniture. When using this bar cart, it becomes an extension of the kitchen to the outdoor space. This could be the same for any Toronto backyard or balcony and brings an element from the inside of your home to the outside further blurring the line.

The handles are actually cut and sanded, not steam bent. It makes for an incredible grain.

You can clearly see the Danish influence with the use of tapers and the mix of oak and oiled Peruvian walnut. Our little “Ceremony” milk set was on display as well. As mentioned before, the tray is removable, so you can easily carry its contents from the cart to the dining table or living room table and keep it in use as a serving tray.

A burl pedestal by Adrian Kuzyk.

Paintings by Judith Geher

A potluck dinner with all the participants and their families.

Screen by Joe Lin

Bamboo, rocks and water feature. Their courtyard is amazing (this photo doesn’t do it justice, was using a different lens and setting than usual and it was a hot mess).

Chair by LUBO – lubodesign.com

Hanging terrariums by Crown Flora Studio

Charred wood wall installation by Scott Eunson

Elodie nomming on some yogurt

Oak rocking chair by Megan Blake

Metal paintings by Lisa Petrocco

Children’s book by Jarl Anderson, illustrations and mask by Thomas Barker

The Boston Ivy is everywhere, greening the space in such a nice way.